The unofficial authority on recession calls in Canada says it's too soon to use that word to describe the sluggish economy. Debate has raged on Parliament Hill over whether the country is in a recession since Statistics Canada reported last week that the economy shrank for two quarters in a row. The C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council is traditionally...
The labour market rebounded with a surprise gain of 88,000 jobs in May, partially offsetting a bigger drop in employment since the start of the year, Statistics Canada said Friday. The agency said the unemployment rate fell to 6.6 per cent in May, down from 6.9 per cent in April. StatCan said May’s gains were the first significant increase in...
Advisory committee member says talks with U.S. are progressing. Prime Minister Mark Carney said his negotiating team made "some progress" during trade talks in Washington this week, but there's "lots more to do" to land an overall agreement. Carney's comments on Thursday came as Canada-U.S. Trade minister Dominic LeBlanc and the country's chief trade negotiator, Janice Charette, briefed a special...
When the Trump administration took aim at free trade last year, Ryan Zoehner felt like he was under fire. "Our supply chain got caught in the crosshairs," said the CEO of Algo, a Vancouver-area manufacturer whose 165 employees make speakers, strobe lights and intercoms for use in schools, hospitals and airports. The maze of tariff walls thrown up by U.S...
The Postmedia-Leger survey also found that Canadians think Alberta’s separation would have a greater economic impact than Quebec's. Fewer than half of Albertans are certain that they would continue living in their newly independent province should it separate from Canada, according to a new Postmedia-Leger poll, as a referendum later this year is set to decide if the province wants...
Talk of provincial independence has resurfaced in different parts of the country, raising questions about national unity, economic impact, and how Canadians would respond if Alberta or Quebec were to leave Confederation. Leger’s latest survey explores how closely Canadians are following these discussions, which province they believe would have the greater impact on Canada if it became independent, and whether...
Three in five Canadians are outright not likely to purchase dairy products from the US if the dairy supply management system changed and more dairy from the United States was available for sale at lower costs. An additional one in ten is somewhat unlikely.
Donald Trump’s man in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, managed to achieve the trifecta of Canadian journalism this week: he had pundits from three leading papers across the political spectrum calling for his head. On the left, more or less, John Lorinc argued in the Star that the Carney government “should kick Hoekstra out” for retweeting a Trump jibe about Canada being...
One day, Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau’s activist environment minister, quit Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. The next, the Prime Minister was in New York to sell CEOs and fund managers on investing in Canada, touting this country as an energy superpower that could help “make America great again.” Things have changed. The style is a long way from Mr. Trudeau’s era...
Announcements are coming fast and furious from the Liberal government, on everything from major projects to immigration to foreign trade and defence. But Canadians want to see actual action. We look at Mark Carney’s promises and progress in 16 areas, plus where the Trudeau government left things. And we’ll be checking in periodically to see how much progress has been...
When half a dozen industry and business representatives from Manitoba walked inside the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) office Tuesday, the province’s man in Washington jokingly called them the Avengers. “This has never happened before,” Manitoba Senior Representative to the United States Richard Madan told CTV News after their meeting with USTR staff. The Avengers left feeling optimistic, despite known...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
The latest. The freshest numbers. Let's go straight to the math of the Postmedia-Leger poll on the October referendum question. The envelope please. Alberta should remain a province of Canada. 68 per cent. The government of Alberta should commence the legal process required to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada. 24 per cent.
Jim Dinning tells the Post’s John Ivison why he is sympathetic to Premier Danielle Smith’s push to give separatists the chance to express their strongly held sentiments in a referendum
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had a concise way of describing the job’s main responsibility. Of all the files that land on a prime minister’s desk, he liked to say, two can never be delegated to anyone else: national unity, and the relationship with the United States.
The political significance of 2 consecutive quarters of bad GDP data. Pierre Poilievre popped up before reporters who were waiting outside a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and in the span of 10 minutes the Conservative leader managed to use the word "recession" more than two dozen times. "Mr. Trump's policies are affecting all G7 countries, and none of them are...
We recall last year when U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said that annexation talk was over. “From my standpoint, from the President’s standpoint, 51st state’s not coming back,” he said. “It’s done.” Yeah, sure. This week Donald Trump posted “51st State” on Truth Social. It came with a link to an article about the Canadian economy dipping into a recession, the...
Dominic LeBlanc, Mark Carney’s point minister on Canada-U.S. relations, was no doubt feeling the pressure as he landed in Washington on Tuesday to kick-start trade talks with Donald Trump’s administration. But it’s less pressure than he was facing last year, according to some new polling from Abacus Data. Canadians’ anxiety about Trump’s trade war has declined sharply from 2025, Abacus...
Are Canadians worried? Apparently not. So what's wrong with us? Has 'elbows up' gone to our heads?
In the course of researching my biography on Irwin Cotler, I spoke with his old McGill debating partner, Moses Znaimer, the CityTV and MuchMusic founder. In typically unfiltered Znaimer fashion he wondered aloud what the former Liberal party justice minister thought about his old party, “which betrayed the Jewish community, in favour of the huge Muslim influx, of which they...
Watching Canada slide toward another episode of national unity trauma has been profoundly saddening for those of us who lived through the country’s last, near-death encounter with a secession crisis. In 1995, I was serving as assistant secretary of constitutional affairs in the Privy Council Office, responsible for generating policy arguments and messaging for the federalist coalition. The last stage...
There’s a fantasy among some Alberta separatists that Quebec separatists are their friends. Not likely. They are risky company for an Alberta politician of any stripe. As Premier Danielle Smith visits Quebec for friendly talks with the new premier, Christine Frechette, she knows who to avoid. It’s much noted in Quebec that the separatist Parti Quebecois could win a provincial...
To start the week, in this column space, you would have read how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith gave us a ballpark price tag for Alberta leaving Canada and becoming its own country. It was a ballpark number. Around $400 billion in start-up costs for an independent Alberta. $25 billion to $50 billion in yearly costs.
Ontarians could soon be facing a massive energy bill. Electricity demand between now and 2050 will likely double, according to projections, and to meet it Doug Ford’s government intends to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new nuclear reactors alone. Throw in anticipated refurbishments of existing reactors, plus new transmission lines and other power generation projects, and the costs...
Someone tuning in to the victory address by new B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay could have been forgiven if they thought they’d somehow stumbled across a speech being given by a U.S. Republican from Texas. “In our national anthem, we cry out to God to make our land glorious and free,” Ms. Findlay told the gathering of Conservative party faithful...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith drops a political bomb, a financial bomb, a bomb dropped on the separatist assumptions of way more gain than pain by Alberta leaving Canada and striking out on its own. Almost $400 billion in start-up costs to set up an independent Alberta. Roughly $80,000 for every Albertan. Somewhere between $25 billion and $50 billion in yearly...
Ever since Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the referendum on a referendum there has been a flurry of speculation from one end of the country to the other. Most of it comes in the form of a warning: things could look much more dire if this confusing referendum question propulses Albertans into a real referendum on separation. Separatists don’t give...
Mark Carney is usually good at speaking truth to power, but yesterday he failed. In an address to Jewish Canadians at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, he named the problem — rampant antisemitism — but failed to offer a solution. He failed to send a message to those causing the problem. And he failed to understand the nature of Canada itself.
Steven Guilbeault finally had enough. The renewed deal between Alberta and Ottawa, which lowers the headline industrial carbon price and weakens or eliminates other climate policies he fought for as the minister of environment and climate change, made it abundantly clear that he could no longer sit in the Liberal caucus. Indeed, the writing was so obviously on the political...
When reporters asked Mark Carney about Steven Guilbeault’s decision to quit the Liberal caucus and his seat, months after walking out of cabinet over the Alberta MOU, the Prime Minister was gracious. He wished him and his family well. As reported by Radio-Canada, Carney said: “C’est sa décision, c’est normal, c’est la vie” — it’s his decision, it’s normal, that’s...
The first promise made by the federal Liberals in their last election platform — literally — was to unite the country by building one economy, so that Canadians can work wherever they want and goods can move freely from coast to coast. “Unleashing free trade” would “give ourselves much more than any foreign government, including the U.S., can ever take...
Central Canadian political elites are upset with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s decision to hold a referendum that might eventually lead to a sovereign Alberta. While sovereigntist sentiment in Quebec has long been acknowledged and accommodated in English Canada, Western alienation is treated with who-do-they-think-they-are condescension.
If this president has somehow permanently changed American politics, if there is a Trump 2.0 with someone like J.D. Vance, Canada must embrace the wider world, as Mark Carney is doing. It's not only prudent, it is essential.
Former federal cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay cast herself as the one, true blue Conservative in the campaign for the B.C. party leadership that culminated Saturday evening with her narrow, fourth ballot victory. Article content “B.C. Liberal insiders are trying to take over the Conservative party of B.C.,” declared Findlay’s campaign literature. “They want to steal the Conservative name and push...
Former Liberal cabinet minister Stéphane Dion says he would not change a word in the Clarity Act—which he wrote and tabled in 2000—as the legislation is once again in the spotlight over separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec. Speaking to The Hill Times on June 3, Dion, the intergovernmental affairs minister under then-prime minister Jean Chrétien, called the legislation “perfect,”...
Ottawa wants to increase Canadians' use of artificial intelligence -- and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety. Announcing the government's new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said "globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and...
The federal government is going to take more time to consult on its proposals to change how major projects are reviewed. Ottawa last month released two discussion papers which proposed, among other things, approving major projects before they're reviewed and exempting certain projects from laws meant to protect species at risk. Critics, including Green Party Leader Liz May, have said...
Liberal MP David Myles (Fredericton–Oromocto, N.B.) will stay on as parliamentary secretary for Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller after cabinet approved an order-in-council shuffling him out of the position last week. Myles is currently listed as parliamentary secretary to Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin (Toronto–Danforth, Ont.), as well as secretary of state for nature Nathalie Provost (Châteauguay—Les Jardins-de-Napierville, Que.)...
Former Liberal leader and minister Stéphane Dion is not calling on Canada to become a member of the European Union (EU) — but rather a “full and integral member” of the European Political Community (EPC) to reinforce ties with the continent. Dion, who until recently served as Canada’s ambassador to France and Germany and special envoy to the EU, made...
The federal finance minister is standing by his government's projections after Ottawa's budgetary watchdog cast doubt on Ottawa's ability to hit a key fiscal anchor. Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan on Thursday released her office's first economic and fiscal update since she assumed the role in April. Ryan predicts annual deficits will average $4.6 billion higher than Ottawa projected in...
When Conservative MPs opposed to the federal government’s anti-hate bill in the Commons, they brandished Bibles to accentuate their argument that the proposed law could stymie religious freedom. Now, as Bill-C9 nears the end of its parliamentary journey in the Senate, Conservatives are raising the alarm that hundreds of thousands of postcards protesting the bill, have not been delivered by...
The B.C. Prosecution Service says Independent MLA Jordan Kealy, who represents Peace River North, has been charged with one count of sexual assault in Fort St. John. The service says the alleged offences occurred between Jan. 1 and Sept. 20, 2024. Court documents indicate the alleged offences took place in Cecil Lake, a rural area where Kealy farms north of...
TORONTO -- Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has not formed an opinion on Ontario Premier Doug Ford's plan to expand Toronto's island airport.
The federal government has announced a new industry-led alliance aimed at growing the skilled workforce for Canada's mining industry. Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu made the announcement today in southwestern Nova Scotia, saying the new alliance is part of the prime minister's drive to build a more independent economy. The government's mining and minerals workforce alliance is the first...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is once again pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s “51st state” rhetoric, suggesting Canada’s sovereignty is not for sale and that the province is outperforming its American counterparts in job creation. “President Trump’s back on his high horse, saying we’re going to be a 51st state. I can tell President Trump that will never, ever...
The federal government's budget watchdog says Ottawa has less than a one per cent chance of maintaining the key fiscal anchor of shrinking the deficit as a share of the economy every year. Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan today released her office's first economic and fiscal update since she assumed the role in April.
After months of delay, the federal government is unveiling its AI strategy that outlines a vision focused on job creation, sovereignty and increased AI adoption. But the plan lacks details on how Canadians will be protected from the technology’s potentially adverse effects. Prime Minister Mark Carney is making the announcement alongside Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon in Toronto on Thursday...
New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon says he plans to step down after 14 years in the role. Coon says he plans to remain the MLA for Fredericton Lincoln. He said he's resigning as leader to give the party time to choose a successor before the next election.
Perhaps, we’ll soon call it Mark Carney’s democratic deficit. The prime minister has a penchant for centralizing power — one explored a few times in this column — and now the edict to his Liberal MPs is that he does not want to be challenged. Over the course of several caucus meetings now, Grit MPs report Carney lashing out at...
Energy executives and analysts are warning that oil and gas prices will likely rise significantly as reserves deplete and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. The price of Brent crude futures was $98.20 US a barrel midday Wednesday. But experts say it could balloon to $150 US or more in the coming weeks, largely due to fading hopes for a...
A new analysis shows the Carney government's pipeline deal could lead Canada further from its climate targets, even with an agreement on carbon pricing. The independent Canadian Climate Institute modelled the impact of the new deal between Alberta and Ottawa on carbon pollution. Compared with the emissions trajectory before the deal was signed, the institute's analysis found Canada's emissions would...
Canada is facing the prospect of entirely new tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration after Washington claimed Ottawa has a poor track record on preventing importation of products of forced labour. The move comes as Canada's biggest free trade pact, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, is up for renewal.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that lower immigration under his government helps to explain why Canada's economy has declined for the last two quarters, pushing it into recession territory. While Carney has not said the word "recession" himself when asked about the decline -- and while economists citing broader economic indicators argue Canada is not in a true recession...
Ottawa's new national artificial intelligence strategy says Canada has a major AI adoption gap and looks to build trust through legislation that tackles concerns about surveillance pricing and chatbot safety. The strategy being announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Toronto today plans to increase use of AI through free training for all Canadians.
The Department of National Defence kept secret how much it paid for a contract with the controversial American tech company Palantir, according to newly released documents that show the deal was worth $30 million more than the government disclosed to Parliament last year. It’s the latest in an expanding picture of how the Canadian military uses and pays the U.S...
In a rare joint warning, Canada and other Five Eyes intelligence sharing countries say China is using professional networking sites like LinkedIn, Indeed and Upwork to target current and former government or military personnel who could have access to “classified or privileged information.” The alert was drafted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Australia Security Intelligence Organization, the...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday his Liberal government will soon introduce legislation on forced labour in supply chains after the Trump administration proposed a 10 per cent additional tariff on Canada and other countries following an investigation into the issue. "Canada has a very strong legislative regime against forced labour in supply chains," Carney told reporters in Ottawa. "We...
After Canada’s economy slipped into a technical recession last week, a new outlook by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, said on Wednesday said that GDP growth is set to rebound later in the year and continue growing into 2027. “GDP growth is expected to strengthen over 2026 and 2027,” the OECD said in a note about...
Findlay said she understood the 'frustration behind things like the (Alberta) referendum.' Newly elected B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay says she’d maintain commercial ties with neighbouring Alberta if Albertans vote to leave Canada. “I would maintain relations, economic relations,” Findlay told National Post when asked how she’d react to a successful Alberta independence vote as premier of B.C. One of...
The U.S. expects European NATO allies and Canada to swiftly increase the number of manned and unmanned aircraft and ships they contribute to the alliance’s defence plans as Washington steps back in these areas, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday. The statement by U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander and the head of U.S. forces in...
The Carney Liberals now have the support of half of Canadians, according to a new Postmedia-leger poll, the first time any governing party has hit that benchmark in popular support in more than two decades. The poll, conducted over the past week, found 50 per cent of decided voters said they would most likely support the Liberals “if federal elections...
Ottawa is directing the CRTC to back down on its recent decision to triple streamers' financial contributions to Canadian content, and will instead provide $600 million to the sector, Culture Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday. The decision comes after the Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, called on cabinet to reconsider the current approach and the U.S. ambassador...
Former Liberal staffer Lisa Kirbie says Steven Guilbeault's resignation and organized caucus dissent have exposed simmering progressive concerns that high polling can't keep a lid on forever.
Conservative MP Billy Morin says he will spend the summer talking to Indigenous leaders about encouraging people to vote in the Alberta referendum. Albertans are set to vote in October on whether they want to stay in Canada or prefer to hold a future binding referendum on separating from the country. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he and his caucus...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House passed legislation Thursday that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy, overriding objections from Republican leaders who warned the bill would undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his "permanent" choice for the critical security post.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans cleared the first hurdle on Thursday as they are struggling to pass legislation to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies, narrowly beating back a Democratic effort to permanently block Trump from creating a $1.776 billion settlement fund for payouts to allies who claim they were persecuted by the government.
The House approved a war powers resolution Wednesday that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to seek to end the three-month-long war. Opposition to the war has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a quick resolution.
With United States President Donald Trump increasing pressure on Cuba, his country’s State Department is looking to Canada to build support for regime change in Havana. Foreign Affairs deputy minister Arun Thangaraj was at the U.S. State Department last week where he met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During that meeting, the topic of Cuba came up...
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson joked there may be a place for Canada in the European Union to join “like-minded” nations as “the most Nordic country in the world outside the Nordics.” “European Union is obviously a matter of geography, you can hear that from the name,” Kristersson told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos when asked for his opinion...
U.S. President Donald Trump says the U.S. blockade on ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz “will now be lifted.” “Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’ Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” reads...
China's foreign minister Wang Yi is in Ottawa today, the first such visit in a decade. He is in Canada for a three-day trip that will include meetings with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Prime Minister Mark Carney. The prime minister visited China in January and met with President Xi Jinping.
Employing U.S. President Donald Trump’s marquee slogan, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a New York City business crowd on Thursday that “Canada strong will help make America great again,” a remark the U.S. envoy to this country said was “worth repeating.” Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the prime minister detailed his economic diversification strategy, and his plans...
Canada and Australia cannot afford to be passive actors in the increasingly turbulent world of resource geopolitics.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
In 2007, Roger Martin, then dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, wrote a book called The Opposable Mind. It argued that the most successful leaders tend to be “integrative thinkers,” by which he meant they tackled problems holistically rather than breaking them down into component parts. Instead of seeking trade-offs, they are at ease with...
“Despite the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries…Lebanon moved forward with the ban on antipersonnel landmines,” said the Ottawa-based group Mines Action Canada in a statement, celebrating the new addition.
Canada’s privacy laws are supposed to protect ordinary citizens from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives. But they can also protect pedophiles. Dead pedophiles. Dead pedophiles from America.
At Issue this week: Mark Carney fends off accusations of driving Canada into a recession. What ordering the CRTC to back down over its 'Netflix tax' means for U.S. trade negotiations. And the simmering Liberal tensions over Mark Carney's leadership style.
The British Columbia Conservative Party hasn't won an election since, and hasn't won a seat in 50. As recently as the 2020 provincial election, the party earned just 36,000 votes. But in 2024, the party surged in popularity, nearly toppling the long-thought invincible BC NDP.
Canada has released its long-awaited national artificial intelligence strategy. It comes as a significant portion of the country feels uneasy about what impact the technology will have.
In one corner, we have a Liberal slump and an NDP surge. In the other corner, we have Liberal dominance and a listless NDP. In both corners, the Conservatives are stuck. But what’s really going on? This week on The Numbers, we try to make some sense of the latest polls that don’t seem to agree on what’s going on...
